This is the second in a two-part series exploring the psychological and evolutionary reasons for why small pains and annoyances can bother us so much. Part one is about pet peeves.
Right now, I have a canker sore on the inside of my bottom lip. Sometimes when I chew, I accidentally scrape it, taste blood, and wince. It’ll go away, I know, but I’m still aggravated that it has roadblocked my enjoyment of enchiladas.
This sore reminds me of the weeklong pain I had after burning the roof of my mouth (pizza, naturally). Or the ingrown toenail that sidelined me from running. Or the full-feet blisters, the dehydration-induced charley horses, and the workout that led to thigh chafing and nipple bleeding.
Which also reminds me that it’s time to order more lubricant.
My list of pains feels frivolous compared to major and chronic ones that millions of people live with every day, the ones that debilitate lives.
So I’m not complaining that I have to chew a little funny.
But it did make me wonder: Why do some of us get so derailed by these little points of discomfort?
Lorimer Moseley, PhD, professor of clinical neurosciences at the University of South Australia, said that question may be the wrong one to ask.
“The pain of a stubbed toe or a muscle cramp is often not minor,” Moseley said. “What might be the biological mechanism for why seemingly minor events and injuries are so painful?”
Recent research has advanced our understanding of pain mechanisms, including for seemingly minor injuries.
The perception of pain is a complicated process that includes many variables (which part of the body, how long it lasts). But the unifying factor is this: Pain is designed to work for you, not against you.
“You have to remember that pain is a protective mechanism,” said Tiffany Moon, MD, associate professor of anesthesiology and pain management at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “It teaches us from an evolutionary perspective that you shouldn’t have done something so that you don’t do it again and so it doesn’t hurt you from a biological or reproductive sense.”
So why can “small” things hurt so much?
Pain as Protection
You might have noticed that my examples were mostly skin-related. And the skin is the first (and thus most important) layer of protection, said Hayley Goldbach, MD, a dermatologist at Brown University. So it’s designed to help us react quickly, like jerking your hand from a hot stovetop.
“The skin has lots of nerve endings. Some detect pressure, some vibration, and some pain,” Goldbach said.
Pain is a protective feeling, so it, like other feelings, is often shaped by previous experiences and exposure, “to some extent by sophisticated but unconscious evaluation of what might be happening, by the sensory signal coming from the body and the context in which we find ourselves,” Moseley said.
So our bodies know what we’ve done in the past, how much it’s been hurt, and what it needs to do to protect itself.
It comes down to something called somatosensory density, Moseley said: “How good is that part of the body at getting accurate and detailed data about what just happened to the brain? How important is this body part to me? How expected was this?”
How the brain creates these painful experiences is a mystery, Moseley said, but the why is easier. The brain essentially creates an experience of intense pain based on a simple reaction: The more urgently you need to act, the more the pain can hurt.
It’s your brain telling you to remove your hand from the hot stove — like, now.
“Simple, and as difficult, as that,” Moseley said.
While some pain can come from life-threatening injuries, less threatening events can also be highly painful.
“If you burn the roof of your mouth and can’t eat or drink, it affects the quality of life,” Moon said. “It’s not searing pain like getting stabbed in the stomach, but it’s annoying and affects other parts of your life, like talking and swallowing.”
The tissue will heal, and there’s also a protective effect: You learn to, well, wait for the hot pizza to cool off a bit.
Managing Your Pain
The CDC reports that 20% of adults experience chronic pain, and nearly 60% have experienced some kind of pain within the last three months (though it’s unclear if respondents included such minor irritations as hangnails).
But pain sensitivity can vary depending on things like genetics — the reason why “some people say they have a high pain tolerance and others say, ‘I’m a weenie and can’t get a tattoo,’” Moon said. Meaning: We all have different perceptions of pain and how we navigate it.
Sometimes, though, people get wrapped up in a vicious cycle: Something hurts, they get anxious about it hurting, and that makes things feel worse. A distraction technique (engaging your mind on TV, reading, meditation, or any activity that focuses your brain on something else) can be helpful for minor pains that you get worked up about, Moon said.
What doesn’t help: being told by professionals or others that your pain is no big deal.
“Nobody wants to be told it’s all in their head,” Moon said. “Sometimes patients just want to be heard when they have pain. Where physicians need to tread carefully is being dismissive of patients’ pain, like rolling their eyes or telling them they need sunlight and touch grass to make everything feel better. People’s perception of pain is their perception.”
As for your own minor pains, try these quick fixes.
Hangnails. Injuries on the skin hurt more where there is a high density of nerve endings. “The more tightly packed the nerve endings, the more sensitive the site,” Goldbach said. That includes injuries on the fingertips, lips, and genitalia. For minor cuts, clean the area and apply a bland ointment like petroleum jelly until the skin is healed.
Muscle cramp. Try stretching the muscle that’s cramping and then applying light massage (you can use a foam roller). It may loosen up with warm water (bath or shower) followed by ice after the pain lessens. A small study in 2024 showed that meditation had similar effects to stretching for sleep improvement (in patients with liver disease) associated with nighttime cramps.
Chafing. Clean it and provide a petroleum jelly. If it’s severe, you may want to see a doctor for a medicated ointment or an antibiotic if it becomes infected.
Stubbed toe. It should subside quickly for minor stubs, and ice can help with the pain. If it persists after a few hours, you may have broken it. Small studies show that toe fractures make up about 8% or 9% of all fractures.
Ingrown hairs. Ingrown hairs, pimples, and other abscesses are examples of what Goldbach called “pus under pressure.” “These are collections of inflammation or pus that stretch the skin and put pressure on the nerves,” Goldbach said. Most will go away with a week or two, but you can treat by exfoliating the area and gently pulling the looped hair from the skin with a sterilized pin or needle. If you see signs of infection, see a doctor. For painful pimples, Goldbach said you shouldn’t pick or squeeze them, but instead apply a dab of salicylic acid or a hydrocolloid patch to reduce the pain.
Burnt tongue or mouth. Cool the area with beverages or ice, and an over-the-counter pain medication can help, as can rinsing the area with salt water, which can clear the area of bacteria.
